The present invention relates to a bread baking machine for use mainly in an ordinary household and capable of baking bread automatically by simply providing it with prescribed ingredients for bread.
With increase in variety and luxury of eating habits, there is a trend in recent years of baking bread in home with a home-use bread baking machine, such as raisin bread, nut bread, cheese bread and the like by adding such supplementary ingredients as raisins, nuts and cheese.
A bread baking machine of such kind is described, as an example, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication, No. H09-117375. FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the bread baking machine of the prior art disclosed in the publication H09-117375.
In FIG. 9, chassis 2 placed in main body 1 secures baking chamber 4, which is provided therein with heater 3 defining heating means, by holding it to the upper side thereof with bread container mount base 5. Chassis 2 also secures motor 6 mounted to the lower side of it. In addition, chassis 2 secures main body 1 made of a sheet metal by holding it at its bottom end with bottom plate 7. Outer cover 8 opens and closes baking chamber 4. Bread container 9 is disposed removably to bread container mount base 5. Kneading blade 10 defining mixing/kneading means is axially supported upwardly in a freely rotatable manner by spindle 11 at the center bottom portion in bread container 9, and it is rotated by motor 6. Control unit 12 controls power supply to heater 3 and motor 6.
The bread baking machine constructed as above operates in a manner which is described hereinafter. When bread ingredients are put into bread container 9 and the baking machine operated, it controls heater 3 and motor 6 to proceed with a mixing/kneading process, a fermenting process and a degassing process of dough in a sequential manner, and finally performs a baking process to bake bread by heating the interior of baking chamber 4 to as high a temperature as 150xc2x0 C. to 200xc2x0 C. Although the bead making process varies depending on kinds of bread to make, it takes approximately 2 to 7 hours of time to complete the entire process. In the case of making any of raisin bread, nut bread, cheese bread and the like by adding supplementary bread ingredient such as raisins, nuts and cheese, it has been the ordinary practice to start the bead making process with the supplementary bread ingredient added together with such main bread ingredients as flour, water, butter, sugar, salt, yeast and the like into bread container 9 from the beginning of operation. Or, in certain cases depending on a machine, the practice has been such that the machine gives the user a signal when approximately 17 minutes has elapsed out of approximately 20 minutes of the mixing/kneading process, to notify the user of a timing for addition of the supplementary bread ingredient, so as to let the user add the supplementary ingredient manually and continue to mix the supplementary ingredient with the main bread ingredients for the remainder of about 3 minutes in the process.
The bread baking machine disclosed in the publication H09-117375 is devised on the basis of the above bread baking process, and designed to introduce the supplementary ingredient at a time, which differs from the bread baking process, in order to improve convenience of use and diversification of finished results. Referring now to FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B, description is provided hereinafter of a structure for introducing the supplementary ingredient.
FIG. 10A shows a detachable structure of a lid container. As shown in FIG. 10A, supplementary ingredient enter means comprises lid container 13 for storing supplementary bread ingredient to be added, shutter plate 14 for opening and closing the bottom of lid container 13, and container cover 20 for opening and closing the top of lid container 13 when putting the supplementary bread ingredient, and it is designed to enter the supplementary bread ingredient into bread container 9 by tilting lid container 13 around container axes 15 serving as fulcra, in a conjugate motion with shutter plate 14. This structure can ensure reliable and accurate enter of the supplementary bread ingredient into bread container 9. In addition, lid container 13, when made of plastic resin, can alleviate temperature rise of lid container 13, so as to prevent risk of burn and improve safety.
Furthermore, FIG. 10B shows an operating mechanism of the lid container. As shown in FIG. 10B, enter of supplementary ingredient 19 is made by solenoid 16, which pushes axis lever 18 via lever 17 to open shutter plate 14 to baking chamber 4, and tilts lid container 13 around container axis 15 in the same way as shutter plate 14. This allows supplementary ingredient 19 inside lid container 13 to slide down lid container 13 in a slide-like manner, and is entered into bread container 9. Since lid container 13 gets closer into bread container 9 and supplementary ingredient 19 slides down in the slide-like manner when tilted, this structure can enter supplementary ingredient 19 without scattering outside of bread container 9.
In the structure of the prior art, shutter plate 14 needs to be closed after supplementary ingredient 19 is entered in order to prevent hot air from being escaped toward container cover 20 when the bread is being baked. However, there are occasions that the slide-like surface is not completely closed, leaving a space around shutter plate 14. Also, because a complete seal is not achieved and spaces left open between container cover 20 and lid container 13, or between container cover 20 and cover 8, hot air containing steam produced in the process of baking bread escapes from around container cover 20, thereby causing dew condensation in the vicinity of it. Furthermore, if the baking machine is operated empty due to misuse in which bread container 9 is not set in place inadvertently, the air escaping from around container cover 20 rises to even a higher temperature, which could result in a thermal deformation of cover 8 surrounding container cover 20.
Moreover, since an inner wall of lid container 13 is formed flat, supplementary ingredient of highly adhesive material such as raisins, bananas and the like preserved in liquor, when used, sticks to the inner wall surface, and the supplementary ingredient often stays inside lid container 13 without sliding down, even after shutter plate 14 is opened. Furthermore, since lid container 13 has an open end at the enter side rather than a complete shape of four-sided container, it has a problem that the ingredient contained therein could be slipped off easily when lid container 13 is carried with the supplementary ingredient in it.
In addition, lid container 13 is not easy to handle when attaching and detaching it to and from the baking machine, since it is not practical to have any form of projections or depressions and not provided with a grip handle for a reason of preventing the supplementary ingredient from being caught therein and/or maintaining a sufficient capacity and ease of storage. It is especially difficult to handle for attaching and detaching lid container 13 without spillage when it contains the supplementary ingredient.
The present invention provides a bread baking machine which comprises a bread container for mixing, kneading and heating bread ingredients, a baking chamber provided with a heater, a lid for opening and closing the baking chamber, a lid container provided in the lid for storing a supplementary ingredient of the bread, a container cover for opening and closing the lid container, a gasket provided between the lid container and the container cover, a enter means for opening the bottom of the lid container to enter the supplementary ingredient into the bread container, a control means for controlling a baking process, and a locking means for locking the lid and the container cover, wherein the bread baking machine uses the locking means to lock the lid and the container cover to prevent hot air from leaking to the outside through the periphery of the container cover.